RE:Wallis Tractors

A few other interesting early feature on this tractor are unique to only a few of the existing tractors. Other than the manifold elbow mentioned already the oil "strainer" on this tractor is unusual as they only used it on the first 552 tractor. After that there was just a screen on the pickup tube. The can be see from the right side near the back of the frame. when they changed this they also changed the frame and oil baffles. the rear baffle on this one between the engine and clutch is a cast iron piece that is removable. it can be seen in some of joes pictures inside the engine.

The next thing is the lack of a tool box. that was changed at the same time as the frame and oiling system according to the parts book. When this tool box / transmission cover was changed the axle housings were also changed to make the lip on the top higher and add a gussett for strength.

Also in the parts book it claims that the oil indicator was added at #10559. I would guess this one was updated early on since it has all the right parts.

One thing for Joe to check is the clutch handhole cover. according to the book the first 163 had a smaller cast iron hand hole cover. So Joe, is the hole in the frame smaller than your other ones?
Back to more early parts. the first 700 had a round clutch rod and cast lever (brake) with a roll pin and bolt to hold it in alignment. I can see why they changed this but just one small piece they had to fix when learning how to make a tractor.

Thats all the changes I can think of for now. I will try and get some picture to show the changes. Maybe Joe can get some if I don't have all the details.

TRIVIA QUESTION, How much do you think one of the Bear "steering indicators" were worth when new?

RE:Wallis Tractors

Tom:

You have a very keen eye to catch that!! When I was cleaning loose parts off the top of this tractor I picked this piece up and looked at it and thought it was a disc off a grain drill and almost left it there. I did not know what it could have possibly been for at the time but I figured it was with the tractor for a reason so I took it with me. It is snowing heavy here but I did run out and take a picture of the guard.

For those of you that don't know what we are talking about here, this is a guard that keeps dirt from going into the PTO belt pulley when in the field. If you ever drove a Wallis this is a very nice thing to have when in the field because the belt pulley runs all the time when driving the tractor and when the steel lugs toss a piece of dirt or dust into the belt pulley the pulley is not a bit bashfull at throwing the dirt right into your face. In dry conditions it is even worse as you are usually sweating so all the dust sticks to your face and you eventually look like your makeup is running... Not to mention your nose plugs up very rapidly and looks like you were in a coal mine...

RE:Wallis Tractors

Joe,
What a great find and matching numbers to.
Are all Cub jr`s supposed to have matching tractor and engine numbers? 0ur wide front Cub jr`s engine is 151 numbers before the tractor number, does your wide front have matching numbers?

RE:Wallis Tractors

Graham:

My numbers do not match on my wide front Cub jr. nor do any of the other Cub jr wide front tractors as far as we know so far although we don't know what the one in the museum is yet.

I may be way off but for some reason I am wondering if these Wide front Cub jrs weren't some kind of a prototype test machine?? As of now I don't have any proof on anything like this but there has to be a reason they picked that perticular tractor to donate to the Smithonian Museum. Also if you look at the pictures of the one in the Museum it appears to be very well worn out like it went on a marathon several times then went into the nursing home.

Funny thing is with my tractor I got the book for it 2 years before I got the tractor!! I bought this book on ebay and on one of the pages it says My Tractor 13297 then a word I can't make out, I think is a name of someone then # 12635. The 12635 does not match my engine # 12664 but maybe engine # 12635 died while running the marathon??

I cleaned the serial number down to the clean cast so it is very visable on my engine and then shot it with clear coat to seal it and keep it from rusting. This may look a bit tacky to some people but at least if I go to a show with it I don't have to worry about someone taking out their jacknife and ruining my numbers so I can't read them.....

RE:Wallis Tractors

Doing a bit more digging on this Wide front thing.... Here is a bit I scanned from the Cub Jr Brochure it clearly tells the reason for the single front wheel in the first place was to keep the frame from twisting.

There had to have been a reason Massey Ferguson kept this Cub Jr wide front from 1919 until it donated it to the Smithsonian Museum in 1960 and I believe it was because this was the first Wallis tractor to have a wide front mounted on.

The funny thing is this tractor sat arond so long they didn't even know that it was a Cub Jr and donated it as being a Model K

I have several pictures of this tractor in the Smithsonian but all are from the side or a 3/4 view hiding detalis. If you look at this picture it appears that the front cast support for the front axel is bolted into the frame and Not rivited as the bolts stick way out in this picture. I wish I could get a look at this tractor in person to see if I could read out any other clues but for now I hope this will possibly bring people out of the woodwork on this subject that may have more info.

RE:Wallis Tractors

The interesting thing about ours is the bore size is 4 3/8 like the 20-30 and the engine has had very little wear, but the gears in the rear end are well worn and have been reversed with litte wear on the other side of the teeth.
It seems to me the tractor was recoditioned and then not used used much after that.
Maybe due to the diffential shaft bolt comming loose.

RE:Wallis Tractors

Graham:

I am sure back in the day of making Wallis tractors nothing got thrown away. If they had an engine go bad for some reason and it was replaced by warranty the old engine got sent back to the factory and refurbished and then in turn got sent out to the next person needing an engine. This would explain the older engine verses the newer engine.

Wallis tractors were forever changing during production from what I can tell by all the tractors I have personally come across. I think if they found a weak spot they changed it the next day or next pouring of cast to beef it up or make things more accessible.

Of the three Cub jrs I have here all three have different transmition housings, one with the long shaft sleeve, one with short shaft sleeve and the other with a short shaft sleeve and access cover for the clutch pivot. You can see the difference once you see them all together.

Graham, yours should have the later one with the access cover am I right??